USC shuts out Clemson, captures weekend series

Nolan Belcher threw a three-hit, complete game and Connor Bright had two RBIs in a five-run sixth inning as USC won the season series with rival Clemson for a fourth straight year.

By MATT CONNOLLYmatthew.connolly@shj.com

COLUMBIA — Over the past seven seasons, South Carolina has mastered the art of beating Clemson, having not lost a season series to the Tigers since 2006.The Gamecocks put an exclamation point on another series win against Clemson on Sunday with an 8-0 win at Carolina Stadium to take two of three from the Tigers on the weekend.Clemson won the regular season series in 2010, 2-1, but went 0-2 against the Gamecocks in Omaha to fall to 2-3 for the year.USC has won every other season series between the two teams since 2007 other than a four-game split with the Tigers in 2009. USC has won 20 of the past 28 games against Clemson.“Our guys want to win and they work hard and they know the Clemson series is very important. This isn't just a regular series,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “It's Clemson meets South Carolina, two great baseball programs. I would be very upset with my team if they weren't ready to go today and they didn't rise to the occasion. That doesn't guarantee us that we're going to win, but they had a chip on their shoulder today and that was good to see.”Nolan Belcher was the star for the Gamecocks, pitching a complete-game shutout. The fifth-year senior, pitching for likely the last time against the Tigers, had perhaps the best outing of his career.He had thrown one other complete game as a freshman in 2009, but Sunday was the first shutout of his career.Belcher did a masterful job of keeping Clemson's hitters off-balance the entire game, striking out seven while mixing in his fastball and off-speed pitches. He didn't walk a batter.“To go out there and have that kind of success against (Clemson) is special,” Belcher said. “I don't think I was as sharp necessarily today as I was last week but I made some pitches when it counted.”Belcher, who allowed two runs last weekend in a victory over Albany, may not have felt as sharp as last week but it's hard to argue with the result.He faced just five batters over the minimum and only allowed base runners in the third and seventh innings.“Nolan Belcher was fantastic,” Holbrook said. “When he's got that changeup going he's tough. It was just an impressive performance by him.”The Gamecocks used a joint effort at the plate to support Belcher as eight of USC's nine hitters got at least one hit.Chase Vergason homered in the fourth inning to get USC on the board and the Gamecocks broke the game open with five runs in the sixth, all with two outs.Joey Pankake got the scoring started in the inning, belting a single to left field to score Graham Saiko after Clemson elected to intentionally walk LB Dantzler with two outs and a runner on second.Erik Payne followed with a single of his own to put USC up 3-0.After a single by Grayson Greiner put USC ahead 4-0, Connor Bright blasted a double to left field, scoring Greiner and Payne.Greiner said the insurance runs played a big role in helping USC stay relaxed the rest of the game.“In a one-run game against Clemson you don't know what's going to happen. It was big for us to get those hits right there,” Greiner said. “From that point forward we just kind of left it in Belcher's hands and he did what he always does.”All of the runs in the inning were unearned as an error by Clemson second baseman Steve Wilkerson to start the inning gave USC an extra out and the opportunity to put together the string of two-out hits.“We didn't make a play early in that inning and four outs in the same inning, it won't go for us,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.Former Byrnes standout Steven Duggar recorded one of the three hits for Clemson.Jordan Montgomery, who threw eight shutout innings at Clemson on Friday night, was named USC's MVP for the series. Clemson's series MVP trophy went to Clate Schmidt, who pitched seven innings while allowing two runs in the Tigers' 6-3 victory on Saturday.

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